McKinney Act

McKinney Act

The Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C.A. 11301 et seq. (1989 Supp.), was named after the Republican congressman from Connecticut. It authorizes the Housing and Urban Development Department to coordinate the disbursement of unused federal property to community groups interested in providing shelter to homeless persons, especially elderly persons, handicapped persons, families with children, Native Americans, and veterans. The Interagency Council on the Homeless (Pub. L. No. 100-77, 101 Stat. 484, 42 U.S.C.A. 11301 (b) (1) [1989]) distributes information on how to use benefits under the act.

Initially, priority to receive excess properties was given to homeless providers rather than local communities. However, the Base Closure and Community Redevelopment Act of 1994 (Pub. L. No. 103-421, Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4346) amended the McKinney Act by eliminating homeless providers' priority. The result is that homeless providers' needs are considered simultaneously in a community's reuse planning.

Funding and support for the McKinney Act has been reduced, especially with the 1996 Welfare reform, because the act functions in connection with other related legislation. In one recent funding cycle, nearly three thousand requests for transitional housing were submitted, but only 818 proposals could be funded under the act.

In 1996, to assist homeless individuals, the 104th Congress appropriated $823 million for the emergency shelter grants program (as authorized under subtitle B of title IV of the McKinney Act), the supportive housing program (as authorized under subtitle C of title IV of the McKinney Act), the section 8 moderate rehabilitation single room occupancy program (as authorized under the United States Housing Act of 1937 [Sept. 1, 1937, ch. 896, 50 Stat. 888], as amended, pursuant to section 441 of the McKinney Act), and the shelter plus care program (as authorized under subtitle F of the title IV of the McKinney Act) (110 Stat 2874).

In 2002, Congress directed HUD to work with local communities to establish a system for collecting and reporting homeless data that would better illustrate the scope of homelessness and help to evaluate the effectiveness of HUD McKinney Act programs.

The McKinney Act "requires that states receiving funds under the McKinney Act assure that each homeless child shall have access to a comparable free, appropriate public education in the mainstream school environment .

As part of its obligation under the McKinney Act to ensure the education of homeless children and youth, the state of New Jersey has developed a series of procedures that are used to determine which school district should educate and transport a homeless student, and which school district should pay for the student's education and transportation.

Finally, strategies in obtaining assistance available to homeless service providers from the federal government in the form of surplus property under Title V of the McKinney Act will also be addressed.

The McKinney Act defines homeless people as those who have spent more than seven consecutive nights in a shelter, car, abandoned building, public park, nonresidential building, or other nondwelling and gives aid to the homeless in the form of emergency food and shelter, medical and mental health care, permanent and transitional housing, and education and job training.

an affordable housing fund, which would combine, among others, the HOME block grant program, the McKinney Act homeless assistance programs, and the Section 202 elderly housing and Section 811 handicapped housing programs; and

McKinney Act, the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia receive funding to investigate the number and the needs of homeless children, to identify obstacles that prevent them from receiving an education, and to develop a plan to overcome these problems (Stronge and Helm 1990).

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